In Dreams Things Dovetail Beautifully

It's night time. Janice goes to sleep in one of the bedrooms. She dreams of flying.

The Wooden Bird is finished, fashioned out of sticks, vine leaves and tendrils of butternut pumpkin. She and Lu Ban get in.

They rise and fly away towards the Pilbara.

On and on they fly, crossing various flight paths. It is not like the old days, thinks Lu Ban

Wait a minute, this dream belongs to Janice.

How does it know what Lu Ban is thinking?

Lu Ban, too, has gone to sleep in one of the bedrooms.

The same one as Janice. But he lies on the floor.

As they fly towards the Pilbara, Lu Ban tells Janice a story. The story of his first Wooden Bird. Of how he flew home secretly to visit his wife half way across China, and flew back undetected.

And Janice wonders, what is the point of the story? Because Lu Ban says nothing about the resulting baby, out of delicacy, because Janice is only thirteen.

Soon they arrive in a section of airspace above the Pilbara.

Where to now? says Lu Ban. Any ideas?

Janice consults Gaius's note book. It's there in black and white.

Marble Bar, says Janice. The Ironclad Hotel.

In dreams things generally dovetail beautifully.

The Wooden Bird lands outside the hotel....

......just as the two professors roll up in a dusty old Toyota.

The professors are astonished.

Butternut pumpkin! says Professor Wacey. Never thought I'd see that out here. Wherever they've come from, they won't be going back in a hurry.

And truly, the heat is a problem.

Lu Ban drags the Wooden Bird into the shade.